The Beach, The Boardwalk, The Diner, The Summer Love (gxg)

2. Scarlett

    Brunch is my favorite time of day. Just the mornings in general are the best parts of the day because you still have hope and your day hasnt been ruined yet. I guess that's a bad way to think. But i dont know how else to think.
Everyone is so happy when you go out to breakfast but if you were to go out to dinner you would hear half of the people say "it's been a rough day" and chances are they probably don't want to be going out to dinner with you.
Today I am out to breakfast at Aunt Suzy's Waffle House which has got to be the most popular diner here. There are a lot, but if you were to go to the carnival at the end of the beach you would see a bunch of Aunt Suzy's Waffle House stickers that they give kids stuck on all of the lights and railings.
In the diner the booths are cracked from so much use and the checkered floor has seen better days. The fans spin as fast as they can and the workers are still sweating from running around to each table. There are pictures on the wall of when the diner first opened and a time where it was so packed here there was a line out the door and it continued to the two shops next door. I'm not sure what happened that time but there must have been a shortage of waffles at any other diner for there to be that many people waiting for that long.
There are some workers here that you would recognize if you came here a lot. Like the old waitress with poofy dyed red hair who calls you hun and always has the same glitter pen with a pom pom that's ready to take your order. I notice her here everytime we're here and I'm starting to wonder if she is Aunt Suzy but i dont actually want to know, it would spoil the mystery.
I am out with everyone at the house right now. My parents, Megan, my parents friend, and her husband, and one of moms friends who are only here for this weekend and their kid who just doesn't shut up. I guess its cute for a while until you have to sit with him for an hour and a half and he doesnt stop talking about the toy he brought with him and asking me questions i dont want to answer.
For these kinds of breakfasts I keep my head down, people watch, bring my book, and hope for the best. It's sundays that if we were going to go out to breakfasts we have to get reservations so there is no way i can get out of it if they already booked the reservation. I dont know what I would do if I got out of it anyway. Probably just sleep in a little more. It's not like it's early but it would be nice.
"Whatcha reading?" The kid asks me. A little nosy nellie over there. "A book" I replied realizing too l late that that would just keep his questions coming.
"What kind of book?" He asks
"A mystery"
"Whats the mystery?"
"Who killed who."
"I dont know thats why im reading it"
"Whats happening right now?"
"There is a detective investigating." I lie. The part i'm actually at is the romance subplot but i dont want to have to answer more of his questions.
"Hmm" he says "You know i want to be a detective when i grow up."
"Intresting" I nod trying to keep my eyes on the page
"Reading isn't fun you know. My teacher is making us do summer reading for school while it is summer. And we aren't supposed to be doing school work in the summer!" I start to tune out.
"Hey, can you read my summer reading book for me?" he asks
"Sure"
"Really?"
"No"
"Why? You like reading."
"Because how are you going to know what to say in class when you haven't read the book, and the teacher calls on you to answer a question about the book?" I answer finally lifting my eyes up from my book.
"I don't know I can figure it out, '' he says.
"Still no. Your book is probably boring anyway. My summer reading books are too."
"You have summer reading books?" He asks, shocked.
"Yes"
"But you're in like college." he says, still shocked as though after high school you never have to read again.
"I'm in high school."
"But still. Am I still going to have to do summer reading when I am your age?" He asks.
"Yes"
"Ugh!" He dramatically sighs and puts his head in his hands like he is already stressed out. He starts blabbing about someone at school and I just focus on the words on the page.
The food comes and then a group of five or six teenagers come into the restaurant. They must have had a reservation like us because the wait has got to be at least thirty minutes for a table of six on a hot Sunday at eleven a.m.
While I dig into my banana pancakes topped with strawberries I am just observing them, people watching.
There are two girls and four boys in their little group. We are at a table in the middle of the diner and they sit at the table right in front of us. I can see half of them clearly and I can see the other half's backs. The first one I notice is a boy with black kind of wavy hair. Not in a messy way just kind of like it's there. He is pretty. I'm not attracted to him but I can notice when a guy is pretty. He has a plain white t-shirt. Not much of a personality there but I mean it's not like we are anywhere fancy it's just breakfast. I'm basically wearing my pajamas right now. An big t-shirt and ratty sweatshorts. Sitting next to him is a guy with a billabong t-shirt and messy brown hair. Im not sure what color shirt would go with that bright hot pink. Wouldnt be surprised if he was wearing swim trunks with that and they totally didn't match.
I add more syrup to my pancake, take a bite and then look up to keep assessing these people's outfits. Next to the guy with the billabong t-shirt is a half asian girl with a darker green new york baseball cap, a white tank top and a sweatshirt the same color as the hat tied across her body. I'm guessing she won't be needing that because the fans are doing as best as they can but they are still blowing around hot air.
This girl is gorgeous. Like stunning. She reminds me of someone and now their table has my full attention.
Well, she has my full attention.
I love her outfit. I can't see the bottom but the way she has her button up tied around her like that is telling me she knows she looks good. I'm sure she has so much confidence rocking an outfit like that.
Not like i dont, I'm just saying.
She seems cool. She seems lithe kind of girlfriend I would want to have holding my hand. I dont even know why I'm letting myself think like that. When am I ever going to see her again? She hasn't even looked at me. There is no chance she would like me. I dont even like her i just think shes pretty. Even if I thought she did, how would I give her my number?
Then. just then she looks my way. And we make eye contact. I look away fast. This is normal you just made a friend kind of. Exept you didnt smile, and she didnt smile back, maybe you arent friends yet. I look at her again.
She is stylish. She has accessories, good jewlery. She is wearing eyeliner that makes her eyes stand out. Maybe she's gay too. Then i have to remind myself what i want to tell everyone.
"Being gay doesn't have a look"
There is no such thing as looking gay or looking straight. Everyone has their own styles and that is just what they like. I have to remind myself that she could be straight though too. Any of the boys she is with could be her boyfriend. But at the same time. Any of those girls could be her girlfriend. I don't know.
Jaz
    I've seen this girl before. She keeps looking at me. I look at her back and she looks away. Maybe she's shy or something. I must've ran into her before somewhere but i'm not sure. She has really pretty brown eyes and blonde hair which is a combination that I dont think happens often but also what do I know about genetics.
    "So, what'd you think of the party last night?" Brady asks. Like he cares.
    "Oh yeah, really great stuff." I say sarcastically.
    "Perfect now you can always go with us! I wont have to convince someone to come with me and not keep you company at the house." he says looking around at everyone like they should all be excited as he is but they all are staring at him blank faced.
    "That's called sarcasm idiot." I say with a blank face. I take a sip of my orange juice. Brady is one of those guys who just stays with us for as long as he can. Makes us pay for everything. Makes us drive him everywhere. Makes us do what he wants to do. Nobody really likes him in our friend group and I hate that we havent just told him to leave yet. His parents and Mikey's parents are friends and they think that Brady is part of our group but they couldnt be more wrong.
All of us want him out. Its not like he doesnt have any other friends. He does. I dont know why he doesnt want to hang out with them. I think we need to put him out of his misery and just tell him to go hangout with his other friends.
I look over to everyone and they all are exchanging glances. Gael catches my eye because his hot pink t shirt is really something else.
At breakfast is everyone at the hosue: Gael, Kai, Jade, Mikey, Brady, and I.
Me, Gael, and Kai all met at school while somehow Mikey and Jade got added to the mix. Gael and I had, I think, all the same classes freshman year. We would always see each other walking to class and then walk into the same room. We ended up talking a lot in the hallways on the way to classes.
Then Kai came to our school half way through the year. We know that his parents got divorced and he had to move halfway through the school year from Hawaii. Other than that it doesn't seem like there is much going on in his life now and he is pretty quiet. Until he's not.
At night is really when he shines. It's not because of alcohol or anything. He just gets all of his energy at night and that is when he opens up and he is a really good listener.
I think that Gael and Jade were going to become a couple but it didn't work out and then they became actually really good friends. Gael introduced me to Jade and we really clicked. I had never met someone who also grew up in such a busy household. We both have four other siblings and thats how we started to bond.
Mikey was someone Kai met.
Kai went to an art gallery. It sounds really romantic honestly. Kai said that he was sketching out one of the artworks at a gallery and Mikey sat next to him and told him it was really good. Then they just started talking.
I'm guessing really that it was Mikey talking and Kai listening but then they got each other's numbers and started talking a lot more. It ended up that Mikey actually goes to the same school that Jade does and then we all met each other.
We are staying in Mikeys house after all. Mikeys parents inherited this beach house that was super big and super close to the beach. Mikey never even knew whose house it was but we are all love it. Mikeys parents work from this house. They stay on the downstairs floor with one other bedroom, a little living room with a couch, a tv, and kitchenette down there.
They dont have many rules. We treat it as if it were ours and they think of it that way too.
Brady is staring at me like he doesnt know what to say.
"We were only going for the smores anyway." I say and look around at everybody else. They all nod and Brady is the odd one out. Like most of the time.
"Alright then next time we won't bother inviting you." he says looking around the table to see if anyone agrees. He is trying to single me out but I know that there is someone being singled out here and its not me he is just oblivious.
"No that's not right. If she doesnt like it she doesn't have to come." Mikey says. I would have expected any of them to say that.
I nod my head and look back to the familiar girl. At her table there are a lot of adults, one kid, and her. She has an oversized t-shirt not unlike the girls that I saw at the beach. She seems to be on her phone or looking at something in her lap. Then when the kid talks she looks up, her eyes wander around the room until they get to me. And then I realize.
Scarlett
She is the girl from the beach. The black bikini girl who was with the pineapple swim trunks guy.
I look down and remember what happened.
Jaz. That's her name? I think.Yeah I'm pretty sure.
I feel wierd that i know her name.
I don't know why I paid so much attention to her. And i'm surprised I remember her. I wonder if she remembers me.
I guess it's not uncommon to see people at different places at such a small beach town. I dont think I ever noticed anyone before.
It's not gonna happen again but still, I think it's cool.
I glance back to the other end of my table to see my parents talking with their friends. It feels like I'm in a completely different world. I focus on eating my pancake while the kid sitting in front of me sounds like background noise.
I look back up to see Jaz talking with her friends. She laughs and as her smile starts to fade she looks at me and smiles just as brightly as she was before.
I dont think she recodnizes me because what are the chances. We only saw each other two days ago for a few minutes and made eye contact very few times so the chances are not high. But still everytime after that when she looks at me she smiles. Like she does know me. But she doesnt and getting my hopes up for a friend like her seems like self sabotage. How would we start a conversation?
After that we made eye contact four more times. It is a little excessive and I'm starting to think she is doing it on purpose. It's not like a flirty smile, it just seems like she is trying to be friendly. It seems like she was trying to do it on purpose though.

Please tell me your opinions. Do you think there were too many characters introduced in this chapter?